384 
THE NEW AFRICA 
He was a nervous, fiery-tempered individual, in a great hurry 
to put the most of the Pooh-Pooh sand behind him that night, 
and as the sun wended its course towards the horizon, and the 
cool of the evening approached, he eagerly loaded up his ox, 
and, seizing his weapons, disappeared along the sandy road 
amongst the bushes. 
This man was a unique character even amongst his. tribe, 
for those we asked concerning him confessed that it was not 
by any means usual for a single man to tackle the journey; 
mostly men went in groups, for the sake of protection on the 
journey; but this individual wished to keep the centres of his 
trade a secret, and therefore went alone. Anyhow, it is a task 
1 should have been very loth to attempt myself. 
The distance from Lichachane to this pan was fifty-eight 
miles, a long weary trek with tired oxen, that none of us are 
likely to forget in a hurry; for the slow pace we were obliged 
to go at to keep with the cart was much more fatiguing than 
the quicker pace we would have preferred to make. We had 
to keep with the cart, however, because we never knew at what 
particular point our cattle might give in, and it was therefore 
not advisable for us to walk ahead. 
We could understand now what the Trek Boers must have 
suffered when they reached Nkawane after crossing the Pooh- 
Pooh sand-belt, and found the water gone. 
When the cart arrived we rested and sent for our boys who 
had accompanied us to the Zambesi from Shoshong, as we were 
informed that they lived near here at one of Khama’s cattle 
posts. The elder one, Januari, came at once, but the other, 
Ramkujan, was away hunting. His father, a decrepit old man, 
however, appeared in his place, not to miss the chance of the 
probable presents he expected on his son’s behalf. They told 
us that Januari and Ramkujan, with Rudolf, had come out 
with George Westbeech and his wagons, and that Rudolf had 
recovered completely from his fever. On the way out Rudolf 
had shot a big bull elephant at Nata, that had enormous 
tusks, with the gun I left him (the *577 single express in which 
